SOUTHAMPTON were last night preparing a third and final £6million bid to lure Gary Hooper away from Celtic.

But the striker told the Championship leaders they were wasting their time as he pledged his future to the Parkhead club.

Hoops boss Neil Lennon has already booted out a £4m offer from Saints and is adamant his top scorer is not for sale. Hooper has also reiterated his desire to stay.

But Southampton manager Nigel Adkins is refusing to take no for answer and will table an increased bid within the next 48 hours.

The striker worked with Adkins at Scunthorpe, whose fans yesterday voted Hooper their greatest player of all time, but the striker insists he is in no rush to return south of the border.

He said: “I’m back playing now and scored at the weekend. I don’t want to go anywhere.

“I’m a Celtic player and very happy here winning games for Celtic.”

Southampton are desperate for Hooper to bolster their promotion push and will not be deterred by Celtic’s “hands off” warning.

Adkins said: “Gary is an exceptionally good footballer who I know from before.

“I’d like to think we’ve got another player joining us this week. Our endeavour is to bring another striker into the football club.

“Obviously if Neil is going to say another club has come in with a bid then I am not going to go against what another manager is saying.”

Lennon believes Hooper’s career will be better served in the SPL. The Celtic manager said: “Why would he leave to go back to the Championship? That is not being disrespectful to Southampton. They have dealt with things the right way but we will discourage them.

“Even if a Premier League club comes in for Gary we will discourage any offers.

“He can achieve a lot of things here. It might be an ambition to play in the Premier League but I don’t think there is any need for him to go yet.

“He is on a decent contract here and if things go well we will look at that in the summer. We put them off until the summer because we just want Gary to concentrate on his football just now.”